NaissanceE is a first person exploration PC game developed on UDK by Limasse Five with the participation of Pauline Oliveros, Patricia Dallio and Thierry Zaboitzeff. The adventure takes place in a primitive mysterious structure and the game mainly consists to explore and feel the deep and strong ambiance of this atemporal world but...

4 grudnia, 2014

For the 5th times, IndieDB organize the annual Indie of the Year Awards, a selection of the more loved indie games released in 2014.

Phase one ends the 10 of December , it's a selection of the top 100 more popular games. It would be a shame if NaissanceE was not even in this selections so if you liked the experience of NaissanceE, please give it your vote here!

Recenzje

“It’s an unusual, singular game that uses the normal tools of first-person shooter design (UDK) to make something plainly weird. I’d give it some kind of gold star for just being different.”
Rock, Paper, Shotgun

O tej grze

The adventure takes place in a primitive mysterious structure and the game mainly consists to explore and feel the deep and strong ambiance of this atemporal world but platforming and puzzles areas will also enrich the experience.

NaissanceE is a game, a philosophical trip and an artistic experience.

The game is constructed along a linear path punctuated by more open areas to freely explore, some puzzles to solves and some more experimental sequences.

Going deeper and deeper in a primitive zone from “Naissance” world, the player will meet entities or mechanical systems. Whether those entities are life forms or pure machines, they react to player presence, to light and shadow and they may open access to the following.

If most parts of the journey will require only curiosity and logic, a good control and coordination on running, breathing and jumping actions will help to go through rare but exigent sequences, as an homage to old school die an retry games.

The main idea behind the game is to make the player appreciate the loneliness, the feeling to be lost in a gigantic unknown universe and to be marvelled by the beauty of this world. A world which seems to be alive, leading the player, manipulating him and playing with him for any reason.

Imagination is an important key to enjoy and understand NaissanceE. Walking in an undiscovered abstract structure brings questions about the nature of this world, about the meaning of this trip. Evocating and symbolic, the architecture and events will lead player’s imagination to find an answer, if it only matters.

NaissanceE was one of those undiscovered gems on steam. Hidden in the loud and ever-changing steam library, this beauty rests. Unlike most games that I play, NaissanceE was one of the first that moved me. It truly shows how digital experiences like NaissanceE are becoming an art.First things first, NiassanceE is absolutely beautiful. French game developer Mavros Sedeno has a great eye for design, style and lighting. The numerous worlds you explore in NaissanceE are absolutely amazing, and it is obvious that the developer put a lot of time into creating them. The music choices and sound design in NaissanceE are two of the main components of the game’s dark atmosphere, making the experience much more immersive. The strange machine universe of NaissanceE feels so...alien. I always wonder why things were built and the absence of life. But for some reason, this feeling of loneliness is almost comforting. The long sterile hallways or the enormous underground cities can create a calming atmosphere when pared with the subtle instrumental soundtrack. The experience still sticks in my mind even when finishing the game a long time ago. The story isn’t very direct. Everything that takes place in NaissanceE is really up to your imagination, The experience could be different for everyone. I personally think that the world of NaissanceE is a version of hell, and that the fragments of human civilization could relate to memories of the protagonist. I mean, the name of the game means “birth” in french, so the game’s ending could mean the escape of hell into life once again. I just feel like the story is very phycological. I am not religious at all, so I don’t know many of the stories, but it could be a re-creation of one too.NaissanceE isn’t a game for everyone. The type of storytelling in NaissanceE is very subtle and ambiguous, containing no dialogue or characters to lead the way (Very much like LIMBO). Personally, I really enjoy this way to tell a story since the experience can be much more interesting when your imagination tells the story. There isn’t really anything in NaissanceE that is mature, only that when you get hurt blood lines circle your vision for a period of time. The game does simulate intense themes, such as insanity, but nothing really direct. NaissanceE also has a haunting feeling at times, but only to create a better atmosphere. Although, you need a very powerful PC to play it, so just a heads-up to the people who have one. I really want the developer to get the support he deserves for creating such an amazing game.

I have a mixed opinion with this game, the first half was great, spectacular visuals and atmosphere that spurred on the imagination making me want more. I found it hard to stop playing and wanted to continue on with anticipation as to what was next but about three quarters the way through it changed and I felt I was playing a completely different game, and a poorly written one at that. The puzzles went from challenging and satisfying to complete to just floundering around in the dark or ridiculous headache inducing light and visuals eventually being able to move onto more disappointment to the point I almost stopped playing all together.I completed the game and was left scratching my head wondering what had happened and because of the disapointment factor I wouldn't recommend this game.

NaissanceE is a beautiful creation. Void of words, it creates experience through emotion and visual splendor. I saw things I could not understand the meaning or purpose of, but I enjoyed every minute of my playthrough. It's a hidden gem!

Naissance is a first person exploration/platforming game that really tests your dexterity, patience and above all else, it tests your mind.

As a game, naissance will throw a myriad of light shows and spectacular vistas at the player, the scenery here is some of the most atmospheric you're likely to come across in any game to date. These vistas are seriously grand in scale, traveling through massive industrial emptiness to an abstract and claustraphobic dome that seems to defy the very laws of physics, the game will test your perception and direction as light flickers through shapes and obtuse angles resulting in, at times a very disorientating and uncomfortable experience. Atmosphere is the strongest element in Naissance, it reminds me of the cold confines of H.R.Gigers biomechanical art, it also reminds me of Blade runners dystopian cityscape and Halo's towering architecure. I can certainly see the influence on Naissance.

Platforming and exploring, plus a few puzzles here and there is really all this game is about. Its the world you inhabit that, to me personally, is one of the most interesting and original ive had the pleasure of witnessing. The gameplay revolves around moving through what can only be described as some sort of machine, from pont A to B there will be some tricky platfoming and the odd mind bendingly strange puzzles to contend with, this is the pattern each chapter takes, you are clueless as to why you inhabit this world and the story never explains itself beyond what you interpret yourself. The first half of the game is a lot more open than the second half, which places you in smaller confines with considerably harder platforming sections. These section will frustrate the player and the checkpoint system is far too spread apart resulting in some annoying repetition. All in all though, Naissance is certainly unique and definitely warrants a journey into its hautingly vast abyss.

Amazingly atmospheric trip through a monolithic megastructure that features highly entertaining surreal episodes.

The architecture featured in NaissanceE is nothing but impressive - to think somebody sat down and created all of this is mindblowing, it must have taken ages! The rooms and the glimpses of the epic proportions of the structure you can catch throughout the game are nothing short of breathtaking. This fascination for the rooms you traverse is accompanied by a weird sense of fear and wonder. You can never quite tell wether this place you seem to be lost in served a purpose at some point or not. Whenever you are presented with rooms that seemingly make sense, the game loves to go downright crazy and throws you into a strobelit nightmare-void. Did I mention that you hear all kinds of noises and music that ranges from eerie foreboding to almost silly and quite uplifting? It is mostly moody though, giving the game a somewhat dark undertone. Fitting the massive but strangely empty complex.

The game is light on puzzles, but features a sort of lite version of "Mirror's Edge"-gameplay. You will run and jump. A lot (and die too!). You will also control your breathing while doing so, or otherwise stop running after a couple of meters - which might not be good for you in certain situations. The breathing-mechanic feels a bit arbitrary to be honest, but it might serve a point of making you feel like you are not controlling a floating camera.

Wether or not NaissanceE has an actual story or meaning I cannot say (which might be good thing actually, no dangers of getting annoyed by pretentiousness), but it managed to get my wanderlust going and explore ever deeper into the megastructure to see what its architects have come up with. In a sense, this place is about the road AND the destination at the same time - and that's really cool.

This is the kind of experience that books, movies or paintings can hint at - but being there and living through all the sights and sounds in person is entirely different. And it is pretty awesome too. Highly recommended if you are looking for something different.

In a nutshell: a great minimalistic experience, set in a mysterious greyish-white monumental dream-like maze, some features of which resemble the real world, some rather like strange monolithic constructs.

Making most of the limited color scheme and basic geometric shapes, the game pulls of a pleasantly mysterious atmosphere, epecially in the many open parts which are free for the player to be explored. It is intriguing, sometimes scary, sometimes awe-inspring. Even though there is literally no story, the vague, allegoric mood present makes its own sort of narrative, with blocky ghosts flying around your head while a giant musical instrument submerged in sand plays some music for you or platform chases by giant floating worms.

Gameplay here is certainly secondary to the atmosphere, but nevertheless it was pleasant enough UDK-platformer-faire, with some puzzles and a sprint-breathing mechanic built in. However, I didn't like some middle parts where you are disoriented by pitch-black darkness constantly and have to randomly find some glowing cubes for reference. Pretty frustrating. Still, it was decent enough.

Music was as expected, minimalistic, but very well used for atmospheric effect, be it during exploration or during chase scenes. No complaints here.

In short, if you like experimental minimalist games with great atmosphere get it. Just don't expect any clearly explained story or AAA-class gameplay and you will be greatly pleased.

If you like the works of Tsutomu Nihei (BLAME!, Biomega, Knights of Sidonia), this is a must play. The base is an exploring game with some puzzle elements based on light, and some platform jumping etc. Beautiful, unsettling environments very much like the ones in BLAME!. It's untextured, black & white and built with simple geometry, but the span of the environments and the chaotic architechture makes it a memorable trip. The ambient music is beautiful and atmospheric as well.

I experience quite a lot of screen tearing, though, which is a bit annoying, and the slight noise filter makes jpg screenshots look a bit messier than the game really is.

The textures are simple, but the architecture is insane. To be in a giant room, see something way way way way way far away and eventually make it to that place was just wonderful. I've never felt quite an unease like I did when playing this game. The music always makes you feel like you're about to be chased by something, which makes it all the more unnerving as you look around and are completely alone. It is basically a walking simulator with a few really difficult platformer sections, so you have to be really into exploring and try not to rage at a few of the sections, but overall it's an incredibly immersive experience to the point of madness on occasion.

This is a great game if you like to get mindf@cked, I had a blast exploring that weird structure! Atmosphere and sound are superb, you really get this feel of loneliness. Play it alone in a dark room with a headset to get the most of the experience!

NaissanceE is very atmospheric, yes, but I cannot really call the rampant cubism beautiful as some have done.

Most of the music is okay, but some parts are particularly annoying, the "Chase" sequence in particular got on my nerves.

My only other real complaint is that some of the platforming, particularly the segments involving wind are ridiculously luck based, this especially goes for "Chase" which, in its current incarnation of patches and fixes, is completely unbeatable. Between the losing breaths just by falling the distance from one segment to the next, the poorly designed boosted jumps (the older style I see in videos of it was much better) and the fact that many platforms are designed to fly away literally before you can possibly get to the far edge of them (I'm looking at you particularly, last jump before the enclosed arches) it's literally either completely impossible to beat or reliant on such massive amounts of luck as to be completely irrational. Either way, I haven't been able to get to the end, through literally a few hundred tries, and.... well... from what I've seen, there really isn't an end anyways.

I have never been so dissappointed with a game I knew nothing about before playing it. This game starts so SOOOO well. It has a BEAUTIFUL world and aesthetic. The design in the first third of the game is so great. It just asks you to explore its world and get immersed. And then suddenly the second thid of the game starts. It starts trying to shoehorn in "gameplay". It asks you to do platforming. None of this works at all. Not to mention the design goes to ♥♥♥♥. While everything at the start of the game was magnificently designed and it seemed really clear where to go while not feeling like I was being pulled by the hand, the latter half of the game is so obscure and NEVER clear where you need to go or what you have to do. It is so frustrating and there is absolutely no pay off. There's not even an ending. When you beat the final segment (which is the absolute worst segment in the game. I couldn't even beat it because of how rediculous it is) it just ♥♥♥♥♥ you back onto the title screen. The game looks pretty but has NOTHING else going for it. Look at some screenshots or maybe a video of the beginning of the game, but don't waste your time playing it

I echo the views of those who say this is a game of two halves - one consists of pure exploration, and the other consists of time-sensitive first-person platforming.

The first game is magnificent. The sense of scale NaissanceE provides, the sheer immensity of its environments with seemingly endless verticality is unrivalled by any other game I've ever experienced. The world is utterly alien, and so completely sterile and lifeless, I actually began to hope I'd make human contact. The unique mechanic of manually forcing the player character to breathe during periods of strenuous activity, and the yelps and periods of recuperation required after a long fall, act to remind the player that they are controlling a human body, and that there is nothing else in the world which bears this sense of organic fragility. I began to make up my own story as to what I was doing in this world - I, who had been born, traversing a world without birth or death. Who made this world? How did I get so out of place as to arrive here? The game provides no story, no explanation, no end and no beginning, beyond that which you want to assign it. I thought it was superb.

Unfortunately, the second game comprises tedium and frustration as you jump from moving platform to moving platform, punctuated by regular trips, falls and checkpoint-reincarnation. Additionally you will regulaly fumble about in pitch black, only knowing when you've hit a wall because the game has stopped the head-bob animation, and watch in dismay as the aforementioned sense of scale is transformed into stifling claustrophobia.

Fortunately the first game is much, much longer than the second, which makes NaissanceE easy to recommend, but I never actually finished the second game - I had to watch the last minute of gameplay via YouTube as I simply could not pull off the ridiculous jumps required. Quite why they thought it would be a good idea to send off this otherwise pensive, almost zen-like game of exploration with a swift series of firecracker bangs is beyond me. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth after an otherwise sumptuous meal.

This is a nice little exploration/platformer indie game. It's got a really cool atmosphere that I instantly click with and an amazing drone soundtrack to boot. It's like architecture lifted straight out of my dreams. More of an interactive experience than a game, but once you reach the first big room, you will be hooked.

There are a lot of complaints about the platforming elements, which are admittedly unnecessary but not particularly challenging. Only the 'epilepsy' segment stands out as terrible in design but even then, taking a minute or two to get your bearings before mindlessly jumping around goes a long way. I couldn't imagine playing a game like this with oculus rift though, unless the platforming segments were removed.

This game gets a thumbs-up, but just barely. There's a lot of annoying first-person platforming, a lot of getting stuck in dark corners, and a migraine-inducing flashy section, but there's enough beautiful architecture and wonderful ambiance to makes up for it.

Just be sure to listen to the game when it tells you you're going the wrong way. :)